1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a card adapter for electrically connecting electrical connecting portions of a card-shaped electronic device to contacts in a slot provided in a personal computer or the like for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A card adapter has been conventionally used, for example, for electrically connecting contacts of a CF (Compact Flash) card which is a card-shaped electronic device smaller than a PC card to contacts (contact pins) in a slot provided in a personal computer for receiving a PC card.
An example of this kind of conventional card adapter is shown in FIG. 5. A card adapter 50 shown in FIG. 5 is generally constructed from a chassis 51 formed of a resin or the like, a circuit board assembly 52 mounted on the chassis 51, and a pair of conducting plates 53, 53 provided on the upper and lower sides of the chassis 51, respectively.
The chassis 51 has a CF card receiving space 54 for receiving the CF card therein. The circuit board assembly 52 is provided with a first connector 55 to be electrically connected to the contacts (contact pins) provided in the slot for a PC card, a second connector 56 to be electrically connected to the contacts of the CF card an eject button (eject lever) 57 and an eject arm 58 used when ejecting the CF card received in the CP card receiving space 54.
The eject button 57 is disposed in the chassis 51 such that it can be moved along the longitudinal direction of the adapter. The eject arm 58 is pivotably mounted on the circuit board assembly 52 by means of a rotation axle 59. Further, the tip portion of the eject button 57 is linked with one end of the eject arm 58 through a connection 60.
When ejecting the CF card received in the CF card receiving space 54, eject operation is carried out by pushing the eject button 57 into the chassis 51. When the eject button 57 is pushed, the eject arm 58 is rotated about the rotation axle 59, and the other end portion thereof (which is an end portion opposite to the end portion linked with the eject button 57) is moved toward the inside of the CF card receiving space 54, and as a result, the CF card is disconnected from the card adapter 1 by the eject arm 58.
Further, the CF card is provided with grounding contact portions (not shown in the drawings) on the side surfaces thereof for discharging static electricity charged in the CF card, and the chassis 51 is also provided with an electrical path for discharging the static electricity from the grounding contact portion of the CF card to a grounding means of the slot for a PC card.
The electrical path is constructed from an elastic contacting part 61 which elastically contacts with the grounding contact portion of the CF card, a contact part 62 which electrically connects with the grounding means of the slot for a PC card, and the conducting plate 53 which electrically connects the elastic contacting part 61 and the contact part 62.
As described above, in the conventional card adapter 50, the electrical path for discharging static electricity from the grounding contact portion of the CF card to the grounding means of the slot for a PC card is constructed from the three parts including the elastic contacting part 61, the contact part 62, and the conducting plate 53, and these three parts are electrically connected by merely contacting them with each other.
For this reason, when the card adapter 50 is used, there is the case that such an electrical path is interrupted or broken because poor contact occurs at any contact portion between the parts due to deformation of the parts by external forces or deterioration with the lapse of time such as the generation of rust on the contact surfaces of the parts.
In view of the problem described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a card adapter which can stably and reliably connect a grounding contact portion of a card-shaped electronic device to a grounding means of a slot provided in a personal computer or the like for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard.
In order to achieve the object mentioned above, the present invention is directed to a card adapter for electrically connecting a plurality of electrical connecting portions of a card-shaped electronic device to a plurality of contacts provided in a slot for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard, the card-shaped electronic device having a grounding contact portion and the slot having a grounding means, said card adapter comprising:
a first connector to be electrically connected to the contacts provided in the slot;
a second connector which is electrically connected to said first connector, said second connector being adapted to be connected to the electrical connecting portions of the card-shaped electronic device;
a chassis in which said first and second connectors are disposed, said chassis having upper and lower sides;
a pair of conducting plates provided on the upper and lower sides of the chassis, respectively; and
an electrical path for electrically connecting the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device to the grounding means of the slot without using the conducting plates.
As described above, the card adapter according to the present invention has the electrical path for electrically connecting the grounding contact portion of a card-shaped electronic device to the grounding means of the slot provided in a personal computer for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard without using the conducting plates. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a card adapter which can connect the grounding contact portion of a card-shaped electronic device to the grounding means of the slot in a personal computer stably and reliably irrespective of the condition of the conducting plates.
In the present invention described above, it is preferred that the electrical path includes a grounding member which is adapted to contact with the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device and the grounding means of the slot, respectively.
Further, it is also preferred that said chassis has a pair of arms which extend from portions of the chassis which are located at opposite sides of the second connector, respectively, with a space therebetween so as to define a receiving space for the card-shaped electronic device, and the card-shaped electronic device having a side surface which faces one of said arms when the card-shaped electronic device is received in the receiving space, and the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device is provided on the side surface, and the grounding means of the slot is arranged at a position that is in contact with a part of a side surface of the card adapter when the card adapter is inserted into the slot in which the grounding member is arranged so that the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device is electrically connected to the grounding means of the slot when the card adapter in which the card-shaped electronic device has been connected to the second connector is inserted into the slot.
Furthermore, it is also preferred that the grounding member includes an elastic contacting part which can elastically contact with the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device when the device is connected to the second connector, a contact part which can electrically connect with the grounding means of the slot when the card adapter is inserted into the slot, and a connecting part which connects the elastic contacting part and the contact part, and the elastic contacting part, the contact part and the connecting part are integrally formed into a single part.
In this case, it is also preferred that the elastic contacting part is arranged on an inner surface of the arm, and the contact part is arranged on an outer surface of the arm.
In the present invention, it is preferred that said grounding member is arranged with being isolated from the conducting plates.
Further, it is also preferred that the card-shaped electronic device is one selected from the group consisting of a semiconductor memory card, an interface card and a hard disk.
The above and other objects, structures and effects will be more apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiment with reference to the appended drawings.